CHAPTER THIRTY NINE

THE ART OF THE ETRUSCAN

ARMOURER

Ross H. Cowan

T

he legend of Mamurius Veturius, who crafted perfect replicas of the ancile for Numa
Pompilius (Ov. Fast. 3.379–392), refl ects the skills of the armourers of Etruria and
Central Italy, and the expectations of their patrons in the eighth and seventh centuries.
Take, for example, the unique “poncho” cuirass crafted for a chief of Narce (Fig. 39.1) in
the fi nal quarter of the eighth century (all dates bc). Tailored to fi t an individual with
very broad shoulders and a heavily muscled chest, the cuirass, formed from a single sheet
of bronze and extensively decorated in repoussé, is a fi ne example of form and function.
This combination would continue to characterize Etruscan and Faliscan arms and armour
for another 450 years.^1
If we leap forward in time to about 475, an armourer of Vulci fashioned an exceptional
cuirass for a nobleman from Lanuvium in Latium. It is by far the earliest surviving

Figure 39.1 Poncho cuirass from Narce, Tomb 43 © University of Pennsylvania Museum of

Archaeology and Anthropology, image no. 152663.